Where Miracles Happen: True St

The best-selling author of Where Angels Walk presents a collection of real-life experiences of ordinary people whose lives have been touched and changed by God, from miraculous healings to angel encounters to mysterious messages from loved ones. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

The author of the bestselling Where Angels Walk (not reviewed) returns to bear testimony about the power of prayer and the existence of miracles. Anderson collects miracle tales: Her own engagement ring and wedding band are found (mirabile dictu) by a friend in a pile of raked leaves after a well-timed prayer; while being hauled out of the rough sea onto a boat, a man feels invisible hands pushing him up. As premonitions and visitations mount and prayers are answered in the most doggone ways, readers will either (1) write to Anderson's P.O. box, offering their miracle stories for use in her future books, as she asks them to, or (2) run, fighting the gag reflex, in the general direction of the nearest snake-oil salesman. (Literary Guild selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A 20-year feature journalist, Anderson won national attention with Where Angels Walk (Barton & Brett, 1992). Her visibility on TV and radio talk shows and on the lecture circuit and her requests for "miracle experiences" in a number of magazines brought Anderson the narratives on which her new book is based. The author reviews various religious ideas about heavenly intervention in human affairs and summarizes Americans' attitudes on the subject according to major polls; she then reports dozens of contributors' stories under five headings: "Miracles through Prayer," "Angel Miracles," "Miracles from Beyond," "Miraculous Healings," and "God's Special Miracles." It is not difficult to understand the appeal of the recent spate of books on angels and miracles: the best of them reaffirm believers' faith, and many nonbelievers find these heartwarming (if sentimental and undocumented) stories as hard to resist as a Frank Capra movie. To her credit, Anderson avoids most editorializing; she turns each person's experience into a brief, spiritual short story. Given past performance, expect requests. Mary Carroll